Israel’s Future Destruction & Ultimate Restoration

Order of Service

Welcome

Prayer

Hymn -

Notices

Prayer Meeting - 7:30pm Wed

Friday 7pm - Online

Sunday Morning 11am & 6pm

Tithes & Offerings - £

Main Prayer

Hymn -

Reading

Amos 8:4–9:15 ESV

Hear this, you who trample on the needy and bring the poor of the land to an end, saying, “When will the new moon be over, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may offer wheat for sale, that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great and deal deceitfully with false balances, that we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals and sell the chaff of the wheat?” The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob: “Surely I will never forget any of their deeds. Shall not the land tremble on this account, and everyone mourn who dwells in it, and all of it rise like the Nile, and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?” “And on that day,” declares the Lord God, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight. I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on every waist and baldness on every head; I will make it like the mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day. “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord God, “when I will send a famine on the land— not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it. “In that day the lovely virgins and the young men shall faint for thirst. Those who swear by the Guilt of Samaria, and say, ‘As your god lives, O Dan,’ and, ‘As the Way of Beersheba lives,’ they shall fall, and never rise again.” I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said: “Strike the capitals until the thresholds shake, and shatter them on the heads of all the people; and those who are left of them I will kill with the sword; not one of them shall flee away; not one of them shall escape. “If they dig into Sheol, from there shall my hand take them; if they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down. If they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, from there I will search them out and take them; and if they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them. And if they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it shall kill them; and I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good.” The Lord God of hosts, he who touches the earth and it melts, and all who dwell in it mourn, and all of it rises like the Nile, and sinks again, like the Nile of Egypt; who builds his upper chambers in the heavens and founds his vault upon the earth; who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out upon the surface of the earth— the Lord is his name. “Are you not like the Cushites to me, O people of Israel?” declares the Lord. “Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir? Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the surface of the ground, except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” declares the Lord. “For behold, I will command, and shake the house of Israel among all the nations as one shakes with a sieve, but no pebble shall fall to the earth. All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, ‘Disaster shall not overtake or meet us.’ “In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old, that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name,” declares the Lord who does this. “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them,” says the Lord your God.

Sermon

Indictment of Greedy Merchants (8:4-6)

Amos 8:4–6 ESV

Hear this, you who trample on the needy and bring the poor of the land to an end, saying, “When will the new moon be over, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may offer wheat for sale, that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great and deal deceitfully with false balances, that we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals and sell the chaff of the wheat?”

Social Justice (v4)

Hear This

Trample - harsh and unjust treatment

Do away with - literally cause to cease

God’s Law requires his people to have an open hand of generoisty to the poor and needy

Unprotected members of society includes orphans, widows, sojourner, and the poor

Sacrificial Worship v5

Merchants dutifully closed their shops to obey the law related to teh New Moon and Sabath observances

However the merchants betray their real motives and primary concern

They wanted to know when the earliest moment they could recommence sales

The true aims, were supplemented with skimping, boosting, cheating and buying

They begrudged the monthly and weekly worship days

Their worship was formal and superficial

Specific Charges (v5-6)

Skimping - under supply

Cheating with dishonest scales

They would bring the poor to starvation, in order to cause those people to give themselves into slavery

They even put in the waste with the good to bulk the product

The Lord’s Oath against Greedy Merchants (8:7-10)

Amos 8:7–10 ESV

The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob: “Surely I will never forget any of their deeds. Shall not the land tremble on this account, and everyone mourn who dwells in it, and all of it rise like the Nile, and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?” “And on that day,” declares the Lord God, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight. I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on every waist and baldness on every head; I will make it like the mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.

Determined to remember their deeds (v7)

Previously he swore on His own character

Now he wears on the “pride” of Jacob

Dire Consequences of the Lord’s Oath (v8)

Shall not the land tremble on this account

and everyone mourn who dwells in it

and all of it rise like the Nile

and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?

Days of Gloom and Grief (v9-10)

“I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight”

awesome dread and startling suddeness

“I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation”

“I will bring sackcloth on every waist and baldness on every head”

shaving head was a symbol of mourning

“I will make it like the mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day”

The Lord’s Threat of Famine (8:11-14)

Amos 8:11–14 ESV

“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord God, “when I will send a famine on the land— not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it. “In that day the lovely virgins and the young men shall faint for thirst. Those who swear by the Guilt of Samaria, and say, ‘As your god lives, O Dan,’ and, ‘As the Way of Beersheba lives,’ they shall fall, and never rise again.”

A Famine of Hearing the Words of God (v11)

Behold - an imporant announcement

Matthew 4:4 “... ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ””

A futile search for the Word of the Lord (v12)

famine causes weakness, and being unsteady and aimless

A fainting from Thirst for the Word of the Lord (v13)

the strongest and most durable of society will faint because of the thirst

A failure of False Religion (v14)

Idolatry requires the swearin of allegance to that god

This amounts to forsaking the Lord

The people were making oaths in the names of foreign gods

“they shall fall, and never rise again”

Fifth Vision The Lord Standing by the Alter (9:1-4)

Amos 9:1–4 ESV

I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said: “Strike the capitals until the thresholds shake, and shatter them on the heads of all the people; and those who are left of them I will kill with the sword; not one of them shall flee away; not one of them shall escape. “If they dig into Sheol, from there shall my hand take them; if they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down. If they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, from there I will search them out and take them; and if they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them. And if they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it shall kill them; and I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good.”

No intersions by Amos

No symbolic component

No escape for divine restribution

Seeing the Awesome Lord (9:1)

Hearing the Awful Judgement (9:1)

Strike the tops of pillars

Shake the foundations

shatter them on the heads of the people

The temple in all its grandure will be utterly destroyed

No Hiding Place (9:2-4)

If they dig to Sheol (dead reside) - my hand shall take them

Climb to heaven (God resides or limits of the universe) - bring them down

Hide the on the top of Carmel - search out and take them

Hide at the bottom of the sea - bitten by the serpant

Surrender to the Enemy - killed by sword

The Lord Almighty (9:5-6)

Amos 9:5–6 ESV

The Lord God of hosts, he who touches the earth and it melts, and all who dwell in it mourn, and all of it rises like the Nile, and sinks again, like the Nile of Egypt; who builds his upper chambers in the heavens and founds his vault upon the earth; who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out upon the surface of the earth— the Lord is his name.

The Lord who is soverign will judge

Destruction of the Sinful Kingdom (9:7-10)

Amos 9:7–10 ESV

“Are you not like the Cushites to me, O people of Israel?” declares the Lord. “Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir? Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the surface of the ground, except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” declares the Lord. “For behold, I will command, and shake the house of Israel among all the nations as one shakes with a sieve, but no pebble shall fall to the earth. All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, ‘Disaster shall not overtake or meet us.’

No Special Immunity for Israel (9:7)

In Deut 2 Moses had affirmed God’s involvement with other nations

He had brought punishment to them for their sins

Israel does not immujnize them from judgement any more than his involvement with any other nation immunizes them from it

Observed by the Soverign Lord (9:8)

“the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom”

Israel the sinful northern kingdom would be destroyed

“except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob”

But the a remnant of the people who were decendants of Jacob would survive

Judgement of Israel Commanded (9:9)

“ I will command, and shake the house of Israel among all the nations as one shakes with a sieve, but no pebble shall fall to the earth”

Death Sentence (9:10)

“All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword”

This judgement contradicts Israel’s understanding of its history and relationship with God

Amos 9:7-10 is God correction of that understanding

Amos 3:1-2 “You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth” & “therefore I will punish you for all your sins”

Future Restoration of Israel (9:11-15)

Amos 9:11–15 ESV

“In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old, that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name,” declares the Lord who does this. “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them,” says the Lord your God.

The message of Judgement is followed by a message of Hope

The priviledge of being chosen came with the responsibility of maintaining a proper relationship with God

God’s judgement against the nation was clear yet the remnent of the faithful would be encouraged

In Acts 15:14 James quoted from Amos 9:11-12 in support of God’s work in “taking from the Genitles a people for himself”

James makes the argument that the work of God in bring in the Gentiles was a fulfilment of Amos’ prophesy

This future forgiveness of Israel (His People) will be permanent

Restoration of Covenent Blessing is an unconditional promise

Jesus Christ - in the Line of David was the manifestation of God at work to change the word of wrath to the word of mercy

He founded the church

He charged them to make disciples of all nations

God is the one who restores, builds, plants and blesses

It will be the coming of the Lord, who will heal his people and their land

Hymn -

Q&A

Hymn -

Closing Prayer

Doxology